Interview with Paul Jenkin, environmental director with Surfrider Foundation, Ventura, CA, chapter, and Leslie Purcell about the preservation and restoration of the Ventura River and Ventura’s beaches.
Filmed at Surfer’s Point in Ventura, CA.

Speech by Van Jones, environmental advocate, civil rights activist, and attorney. Jones is a co-founder of three non-profit organizations. In 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California non-governmental organization (NGO) working for alternatives to violence. In 2005, he co-founded Color of Change, an advocacy group for African Americans. In 2007, he founded Green For All, a national NGO dedicated to “building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.” His first book, The Green Collar Economy, was released on October 7, 2008, and reached number 12 on the New York Times Best Seller list. In 2008, Time magazine named Jones one of its “Heroes of the Environment”.

Economist and visionary, David Korten, dicusses the deceptions of Empire in the languaging of economic practices that serve the wealthiest at the expense of communities. He discusses the Occupy Movement, the IMF, and World Bank and also the need to shift to an economy based on natural systems.

Kevin Baker joined the Army fully believing that he would be supporting the U.S. as a real force for good, toppling a brutal dictator, and bringing democracy to the country. This is his story of how he came to awareness and how he and other soldiers joined together to stand up to the Brass and demand care for themselves.

It is an amazing story of an amazing journey but a clear headed young soldier who is now a leader in the anti-war movement.

The Pentagon has just released a report indicating a rise in reports of sexual assault in military academies. This young former Marine speaks or her own continual sexual harrassment, brutal assualt and rape by multiple Marines serving with her while at Parris Island, North Carolina and continuing during her training at Ft. Meade, Maryland.

She says efforts to seek help from military M.D.s fell on deaf ears despite intense trauma that left her with cervical damage, unrelenting nightmares and in constant fear. After seeing what happened to other women when they did report being raped, this soldier went U.A. with the support of her family. She was picked up and jailed before being discharged without benefits.

WARNING: Graphic and disturbing photos between 38:40 and 40:45.
U.S. Army Ranger John Needham, who was awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism, wrote to military authorities in 2007 reporting war crimes that he witnessed being committed by his own command and fellow soldiers in Al Doura, Iraq. His charges were supported by atrocity photos which, in the public interest, are now released in this video. John paid a terrible price for his opposition to these acts. His story is tragic.

CBS reported obtaining an Army document from the Criminal Investigation Command suggestive of an investigation into these war crimes allegations. The Army’s conclusion was that the “offense of War Crimes did not occur.” However, CBS also stated that the report was “redacted and incomplete; 111 pages were withheld.”

This video is placed with the context of Vice President, Dick Cheney, insistence that this nation’s efforts “must go to the dark side;” which included ignoring the Geneva Conventions.

John’s story is told, here, by his father, Michael Needham. It is produced in the spirit of the public interest and towards promoting justice foundational to the rule of law.